Toddling
by DigiExpert
Summary: Part of my young!Aaeru series. Creeping, crawling...young Aaeru's always on the go it seems. The day comes when her grandpa sees if she's ready to try walking, not knowing how much more adventurous she'll become because of it.


**I never seem to be able to sleep in on the weekends at all anymore...my body seems to have adjusted permanently to 8 hours or less of sleep. Since I was up early this morning, I decided to finish this story instead. I'd wanted to try my hand at something like it for awhile... I think it turned out to be pretty cute. I think I'll go work on one of my prompts for yuri_challenge. I think you'll enjoy what I come up with for that as well :) Enjoy!**

Bright green eyes scanned the room, searching for something. On hands and knees, she ventured forward across the wooden floor. She spotted him, and crawled over, using the wooden seat of the rocking chair to pull herself into a standing position. She looked up at her grandpa, babbling to him about something she'd done.

He chuckled at how animated his young granddaughter was. He was amused by how big her eyes were. She was always off on some adventure, crawling all around the house. If he didn't keep a careful eye on her, she'd easily disappear before he knew it. All it took was to turn away from her for just a moment. The last time that had happened, she'd ended up outside and falling off the steps that led down from the porch. It had been her cries that had alerted him she wasn't in the house anymore.

Aaeru reached up with eager hands, wanting to be held. Her grandpa lifted her high into the air, holding her there for a few moments, which elicited contagious laughter. She kicked her bare legs, dressed only in an orange one piece jumper. He pulled her back down and settled her in his lap. She snuggled up against him, sticking her thumb in her mouth. For once, she seemed content to rest for a bit. He ruffled the small crop of blonde hair that had grown a bit in the time she'd been with him. Once more he began to rock, which lulled Aaeru to sleep.

Fearing waking her should he move, he continued to rock, holding gently to the sleeping child. Her first birthday had passed a few months prior. To celebrate, he'd taken her to see the celebratory festival for Tempus Spatium in one of the larger villages nearby. The Sibyllae at the temple would perform a series of prayers to celebrate the devotion of the people to the beloved deity. It was a long trip to make with a young child, but as Aaeru had clapped and laughed at the Simouns in the sky, he knew it had been worth it.

Of course, when he was ready to begin the journey back home, Aaeru fussed and whined; she wasn't ready to leave just yet. He knew she wanted to see more of the Simouns, but the Sibyllae weren't going to give any more shows during the festival. He had had to carry her most of the way home crying. She reached back, wanting those Simouns. Aaeru had eventually cried herself to sleep.

He looked down when he heard her stirring. Apparently, she wasn't going to nap for very long today, though he knew she'd wake full of energy once more. He was getting too old to go chasing after a baby, but at least it kept him feeling young. As expected, Aaeru woke, and she wiggled and squirmed, finished with being held. He picked her up and went to place her down, settling her so she was in a standing position.

Aaeru could stand for short periods of time, but she hadn't yet learned to walk. He carefully released his hold and there she stood…for all of five seconds. She plopped down onto her bottom and looked up at her grandpa. She began crawling away from him and he watched her crawl across the room to a small table where he kept a small stack of books. With practiced ease, she pulled herself to stand at the table, and reached out for the books. She became frustrated to find that the books were just out of her reach. She stood on tiptoe, trying again. Still, the books were still out of reach.

Losing her balance, she fell onto her behind. This didn't deter her, as she stood again, this time without the support of the table. Her grandpa watched with amusement, knowing this wasn't the first time she'd stood that way. He watched her ponder her choices, looking at him. He had a feeling she expected him to get her the books she wanted.

Slowly, he rose from the rocking chair and walked over to where Aaeru stood. He stood a few paces from her, before getting down on his knees. Aaeru watched him, then smiled. Perhaps she would walk today. Her grandpa held out his hands, making sure they were a few inches from Aaeru still. "Come on, Aaeru. Try to walk to me," he encouraged.

Aaeru soon found that she couldn't reach for his hands without beginning to lose her balance. The first time she tried, she fell down. She pulled herself to her feet again, and this time hesitantly put one foot forward. The momentum propelled her to put the other foot forward. She repeated the action and found herself caught up in her grandpa's arms. He hugged her close.

"That's a good girl. Let's try it again."

He placed Aaeru back from him a few paces, just as he had before. She looked at him, and then at his extended hands. One foot forward, and then another and then her grandpa's arms. This game was fun. She wanted to play it again. The game repeated for a short time more before Aaeru grew bored with it and plopped herself down on the floor. This caused her grandpa to chuckle.

"You always know how to show when you're bored, Aaeru." Her grandpa smiled as he got to his feet again. "That, or you're just being lazy."

Aaeru held up her arms as he stood, wanting to be held again. Instead of complying as she expected, he pulled her to her feet. This time, he kept hold of her hands in his own. Her hands each gripped one of his larger fingers. Together, they walked forward, Aaeru tripping over her own feet every so often. They walked outside and onto the porch. The afternoon sun was finally starting to cool down.

He let go of her hands, stretching. Being in the bent over position for so long had begun to hurt his back. When he looked again, Aaeru was a good three feet from him, still walking. He smiled at her, spying the stick that had caught her attention. It was still two feet from her. His smile didn't last long as Aaeru lost her balance and fell forward onto the porch. She immediately began to cry loudly.

As he picked her up, he noticed she had scuffed up her knee. It was scratched and bleeding only a little, but it was painful to her. He cradled Aaeru against his chest, mindful of her knee as they both went inside. Sitting her on the table, he gathered some bandages and a cool rag to wipe and stop the blood with.

Aaeru fussed as he touched the cold rag to her knee, trying to pull away from it. He conformed to her wishes, pulling it away for a few moments. Then he tried it again, repeating the process until Aaeru allowed him to place the rag against her knee without removing it. He cleaned the scrape, which wasn't terrible at all. He knew that the shock of falling had scared her more than anything. Once he had cleaned the scrape, he pulled a large band-aid from the pile and placed it on her knee.

This was something that Aaeru had never seen before. Curiously, she poked at the band-aid, trying to pull it off. Her grandpa swatted her hand good naturedly. "You'll have to leave it on there for now. It'll make you feel better," he promised.

Scooping her into his arms, he held her up high, then brought her down quickly. Aaeru giggled and he continued. There was nothing like her favorite game to take her mind off of the pain. He pulled her back into his arms, holding her as he put away the rag and bandages. He would soon find out that Aaeru was the sort of child who was always in need of a band-aid somewhere. Her first steps were only the beginning.


End file.
